North Korea is deploying two missile systems, land and sea ballistic missiles, based from a "decommissioned Soviet submarine-launched ballistic
missile, the R-27." The sea based system, the most dangerous of the two, can carry nuclear warheads, and these systems may have suficient range to
hit the United States.
North Korea missiles said to threaten U.S
"It would fundamentally alter the missile threat posed by the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and could finally provide its leadership
with something that it has long sought to obtain -- the ability to directly threaten the continental U.S.," the weekly said.
Apart from targeting the United States, South Korea or Japan, cash-strapped North Korea might seek to sell the technology to countries that have
bought its missiles in the past, with Iran a prime candidate, the article added.
"It's pretty certain the North Koreans would not be developing these unless they were intended for weapons of mass destruction warheads, and the
nuclear warhead is far and away the most potent of those," he told Reuters.
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The article also states that the land based system has an estimated range of 1,560 to 2,500 miles, while the sea base system which can be launchable
from a submarine or a ship, has a range of at least 1,560 miles.
It seems the North Koreans acquired expertise and the R-27 technology from Russian missile experts, and through a Japanese trading company Pyongyang
was also helped in the purchase of "12 decommissioned Russian Foxtrot-class and Golf II-class submarines," which were sold for scrap but retained
their launch tubes and stabilisation sub-systems, even thou the missiles and electronic firing systems had been removed.
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